Futures on the S&P 500 index fell 9 points to 980.60, while Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 18.25 points to 1,568.75. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 74 points.
U.S. stocks posted a modest rebound Tuesday, a day after taking their biggest tumble in six weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU 9,218, +82.60, +0.90%) advanced 0.9%, the S&P 500 Index (SPX 989.67, +9.94, +1.01%) gained 1% and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP 1,956, +25.08, +1.30%) logged a 1.3% gain.
Strategists were unimpressed by the bounce.
"The move higher in equities and commodities yesterday [was] relatively small. The S&P 500 was not even able to retest 992.40, Monday's breakout level," wrote Naeem Wahid, strategist at Bank of Scotland.
The weak tone, accompanied by a relatively light economic data calendar, "does not bode well for pro-risk trading today," Wahid said, in a note to clients.
After focusing for several weeks on better-than-expected earnings data, investors are now turning their attention back to the overall macroeconomic picture, said Joshua Raymond, a strategist at City Index.
Despite some signs of recovery, investors aren't convinced the scale of the market's rally since March is justified by the global economic picture, he said.
China's top stock markets saw heavy falls Wednesday, with the Shanghai Composite Index falling 4.3% and the Shenzhen Composite Index ending 4.9% lower. Resource companies led the way down.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.7%, while Japan's Nikkei Stock Average of 225 companies closed 0.8% lower. See full story.
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ 42.86, -1.10, -2.50%) announced after the close Tuesday that its fiscal third-quarter earnings fell 19% as sales of PCs, printers and software all declined. The results beat Wall Street's outlook, however, and the company boosted its predictions for fourth-quarter earnings. See full story.
Strategists said worries about the computer-maker's sales outlook weighed on shares in pre-market trade Wednesday.
Shares of farm-equipment giant Deere & Co. (DE 45.27, +0.18, +0.40%) were 1.5% higher in pre-market action Wednesday after the company forecast full-year net income of $1.1 billion, in line with analysts' expectations.
The company said fiscal third-quarter earnings declined to $420 million, or 99 cents a share, from $575 million, or $1.32 a share, a year ago, while sales plunged 24% to $5.9 billion.
European shares also lost ground Wednesday, with miners, bankers and auto makers exerting pressure. The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index (ST:SXXP 225.47, -1.76, -0.78%) was down 0.8% in recent action. See Europe Markets.
London's FTSE 100 stock index was 0.5% lower. Stocks took in stride the minutes of the August meeting of the Bank of England's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee.
The minutes showed that BOE Governor Mervyn King and two other panel members had unsuccessfully sought to boost the central bank's asset-purchase program by 75 billion pounds rather than the unexpectedly large 50 billion pound jump approved by the panel. See full story.
In the Middle East, Dubai's DFM index rose 2.3%.
Oil futures were last down 36 cents to $68.83 while gold futures fell $3.20 to $936 an ounce.
The dollar and the Japanese yen rose versus most rivals as falling equities dampened risk appetite. The euro slipped 0.1% to $1.4123 versus the dollar. The Japanese unit outperformed the greenback, with the U.S. dollar falling 0.5% to 94.21 yen.
